Summer holiday 2013: Staycation

Last year we went to Brittany, France and this year we're having a staycation in Yorkshire. Having lived here for 13 years now I *looks sheepish* have never ventured deep into the Yorkshire Dales, nor visited the  North York Moors or the East Coast. Well all this is about to change...

Plan for our 2013

• Walk through some of the 44,000 hectares of open moorland in the North York Moors. (Remember to stick my nose into the heather for our whisky tasting notes). 

• Touch an ancient tree. Over on the other side of the English channel in mainland Europe you would find it difficult to find a tree more than 200 years old. But here in Britain, and I've discovered there is a high proportion of really ancient European trees - I'm talking up to 1000 years old! And the largest concentration is guess where? Yes, in North Yorkshire. 
  
• Go fossil hunting and rock pooling in Robin Hood's Bay before we tuck into good old Fish & Chips for dinner.

• Discover the connection between Count Dracula and Whitby  and take out my binoculars in case we see any passing whales. Apparently Whitby is the best place in Yorkshire to spot passing Minke whales.
  
• Explore pretty villages and market towns. I've heard Hemsley could quite possibly be the  quintessential English market town.